There was nothing left to perceive, nothing to see, nothing to hear, nothing to touch, he was for all intents and purposes, dead…

Despite this, the man suddenly woke up gasping for air, he was disoriented and started to frantically look around, his head pounding like crazy.

He….was not on the battlefield anymore. The charred ruins disappeared, green grass replaced the arid desert and the air was seemingly pur, free of dust and pollution.

How could this be ?

The headache that afflicted him began to disappear progressively and he was finally able to get up, he had to face the facts: he was still alive; he could have sworn the bullets went straight through him, he could still feel the burning metal drilling into his flesh, he shuddered at the memory… But looking at his exo he couldn’t spot any damages, he also did not feel any internal lesions under it.

After a few deep breaths he looked around him again, he was standing under a bright blue sky, in the middle of a meadow surrounded by a dense forest, and he could see mountains in the distance.

He inspected the grass below him, except for the place where he was laying previously there weren't any traces of passage.

“How the hell did I get here…”

His exo’s sensors told him the air was clean but strangely his integrated GPS could not confirm his position.

He paused for a moment before chuckling nervously, this nature, this sky and this air did not belong to the world he knew, his own had been dead for a long time… But not this one.

No...He should not jump to hasty conclusions.

Was he teleported back in time ? Drugged and in a coma in a field hospital ? Or was he really... Somewhere else.

There was no way to know for the moment so he decided to first make an inventory of everything he had brought with him to this unfamiliar place.

Fortunately, his pack had been transported with him, so he found himself armed with a working suit of armor, a rifle, a knife and a handgun.

The last one was a mark-5 pistol that may have looked comically large when gripped with bare hands, but whose stopping power was no joke.

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In his bag he found several magazines of solid-core rifle munitions and some explosive munitions for the pistol, various grenades and tools, as well as food and water for about two weeks.

He figured that given the situation that wasn't so bad, at least he wouldn’t die from thirst or hunger for now.

He hurriedly gathered his things and set off.

Even if he could get by for a while with what he had, he needed to find a reliable source for food and water to survive once his supplies ran out.

He decided to head west, keeping the mountains at his back, and entered the forest with excitement and apprehension.

...

The vegetation was denser than he had expected and he had troubles moving forward, insects were buzzing all around him and the ambient humidity did not improve things. The exo could stop small arms fire but was not designed with comfort in mind.

In spite of everything, he forced himself to keep a steady pace until sunset, and decided to only stop at nightfall at the foot of what looked like an oak tree but many times thicker.

He quenched his thirst and ate one of his protein bars, so caloric that one could fill you up for the day, not that you would want another given the taste.

While chewing his meal he started thinking, this forest seemed to never end and he did not come across any animals since his arrival (except some birds and these damn insects) nor did he see any watercourse he could have followed..

Maybe entering the forest was a mistake ? Maybe the mountains would have given him a better view of the situation…

As he pondered these thoughts, the effects of the night cold started to appear even through his exo, he wrapped himself in a survival blanket but did not light a fire to avoid attracting unnecessary attention. (despite the fact that he seemed to be the only living being around)

He did not even have to stand guard as his helmet included a night vision mode and motion sensors, allowing him to react quickly in case of attack.

The night engulfed him and he slowly fell asleep against the trunk of the large oak tree.

He was awakened at dawn by his sensors detecting movement in the vicinity, several "things" were surrounding him in silence and did not seem to be the friendly kind.

He put himself on high alert and observed his assailants attentively, without moving an inch so as not to alert them.

At first he thought it was a pack of wolves or stray dogs, but he suppressed a shout of surprise when he saw that he was dealing with a hideous thing the size of a human child.

Dark green in color, with pointed ears and a hooked nose, it was staring at him with bloodshot eyes, holding a kind of stone knife in hand….And “it” seemed determined to use it.

The thing was now only a few feet away from him and its companions were also getting dangerously close. Without warning, it leapt at him with its weapon raised, and he barely had time to roll to the side before the knife struck the bark where his head had been resting seconds before.

He aimed his rifle and held his breath *bam* the shot went off with a deafening detonation that resounded for a long time in the previously silent forest, causing birds to fly away hurriedly.

The bullet left a bowl sized hole into the creature Torso, it fell to the ground with a slight gurgle, splashing blood all around.

Its comrades were frozen on the spot with fear; he didn't lose the opportunity.

*bam**bam* two more exploded and the others finally ran away at full speed, disappearing in the bushes.

When the calm returned and he was sure they were gone for good, he finally approached the nearest corpse and observed it more attentively.

It didn’t resemble anything he knew, it had vague human features but could only be a biological experiment that had gone wrong.

He had seen a few bio-weapons in some holo-vids, these were made for war, they could shred exos like paper or throw organic acid strong enough to dissolve you in seconds, nasty stuff.

As he was pondering why someone would create such a weak monstrosity a ringing sound appeared in his head, he first thought that it was another alert and he got into a firing position.

But it was not that, an information window similar to his HUD appeared floating in his field of vision.